Democrat officials and policies moving us in the wrong direction

President Joe Biden told the world last week in a televised announcement that there was no inflation in July. “Zero!” he said. 

That, of course, is totally upside-down. Inflation still exceeded 9 percent in July. What Biden should have said is a very different story: Inflation did not increase in July. It also did not decrease in July. The status quo was due to some prices coming down a little while other prices increased a bit more.

Biden also celebrated a nominal decrease in gasoline and diesel fuel prices, ignoring that these prices are still $2- to $3-higher than when he took office.

The enigma that is New York’s new mayor — Eric Adams, who is a former police officer, state senator, and Brooklyn Borough president — is in the news, once again.  Adams’ election filled the hearts of many with excitement and hope, following the disastrous reign of former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Under de Blasio, crime increased and was rampant, undoing the hard work and strong results of former Mayor Ruddy Giuliani, who followed former Mayor David Dinkins, and made the City a much safer one.

Adams’ reaction to illegal aliens being bused to New York City by Texas Governor Greg Abbott is hypocrisy at its best, and ignores the disastrous effects of the relaxed enforcement of immigration policy by the Biden administration. Instead, Adams blames the Texas governor.

Texas sees more illegals coming across its border each day than the total Adams has welcomed to New York on buses from Texas.

We have been told how proud New York City is to be a “sanctuary” city. And Adams didn’t complain when the Biden administration sent thousands of illegals by air to places around the country, including New York City, in the dark of night. But suddenly, when Gov. Abbott sends a few busloads to Adams’ city and Washington, DC, to help make the point of how badly Texas and other border states are suffering under this insane relaxed border policy, Adams thinks the world is coming to an end, and it’s all Abbott’s fault.

This is not Adams’ only failure. He has done little to fight the increasing crime wave, for example. But it is the topic he uses to try to cover up his thus-far failed tenure.

The Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act was recently passed by the U.S. Senate. Vice President Kamala Harris, in her position as the President of the Senate, broke the 50-50 tie and voted for the measure. It will add 87,000 new IRS agents over the next few years. The IRS employed more than 78,000 people during fiscal 2021, so this measure will more than double the size of the IRS.

Critics of the measure have produced some comparisons of the number of new employees: One photo showed an 86,000-seat football stadium filled with fans, which is less than the number of new agents; that number is about as large as a U.S. Army Corps; and it makes the IRS larger than the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, and the Border Patrol combined.

It has been titled by some critics as “Biden’s Shadow Army.” Another critic pointed out that the new agents are aiming at billionaires, who are rich American individuals and companies. There are only about 1,000 of those, the critic said, but 87,000 agents are being hired to audit their tax returns.

The newly staffed IRS, it has been said, will to have to go after middle- and low-income families and small and mid-sized businesses, rather than only businesses making more than $1 billion, and families making $400,000 or more, as we have been told.

“The IRS will have to target small and medium businesses because they won’t fight back,” Joe Hinchman, executive vice president at National Taxpayers Union Foundation, told The New York Post.

“We’ve seen this play out before … the IRS says ‘We’re going after the rich’ but when you’re trying to raise that much money, the rich can only get you so far.”

“The approach here is to double the IRS workforce, take the leash off, and see how much they can collect,” Hinchman adds. “I think they’ll collect it but it will be quite painful.”

A requirement for the new agents is that they will be armed and will have agreed to use deadly force if needed. All of this is necessary to collect under-reported taxes, we are told. The party that is working hard on strict gun control is also arming federal employees.

This idea, considered crazy and reckless by many, is not needed. The “difficulties” the government sees with tax collections can easily be solved by simplifying the tax code to remove the “loopholes” that enable companies and individuals to avoid taxes. And then require them to pay a reasonable rate of taxes, like 10-15 percent. 

And hire 87,000 new Border Patrol agents to fix the disgraceful situation at the southern border and restore our immigration policies that allow in only those who follow the proper procedure, and find those that were allowed to enter illegally, and put them on the right course by waiting in Mexico until their hearing date.

How is Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan working out for us?

Joe Biden’s been in office almost one year. How is his “Build Back Better” plan working? How long should it take to make a pretty good situation better?

Inflation is skyrocketing. “Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.8 percent in November compared with a year earlier as surging costs for food, energy, housing and other items left Americans enduring their highest annual inflation rate in 39 years.” So said the Associated Press earlier this month. Prices of some products have doubled, and others have more than doubled. 

Among reasons, the AP said, are that “Employers, struggling with worker shortages, have also been raising pay, and many of them have boosted prices to offset their higher labor costs, thereby adding to inflation.” And, while many workers have gotten raises, inflated prices often negate the higher wages they now have.

A CNN report in December said that “Biden now sports the lowest net economic rating of any president at this point through their first term since at least Jimmy Carter in 1977.”

“In the latest CNN/SSRS poll, Biden comes in with a 44 percent approval rating to 55 percent disapproval rating among registered voters on his economic performance.”

One bright spot, however, is that jobs are being added at a high level, despite all the negatives in the economic data.

Many goods are in short supply, as ships sit off the coast waiting to unload for many days longer than normal. Yes, other ports have expanded or opened up to assist with the problem, but a long and broad list of supplies are still backlogged, including some foods, baby supplies, men’s and women’s products, and other things people need. This is a good reason to start again producing many goods in the U.S.

While lower taxes and government spending support a strong, positive economy, we are seeing both higher taxes and more government spending being enacted and proposed. Biden and Congress had their way on two spending bills, adding more than $3 trillion to the National Debt.

And legislation that Biden supports will move control over elections to the federal government, changing a process that was initially controlled by the states by design of our Founders.  This will eliminate “the most popular and proven safeguards that preserve Americans’ confidence in democracy,” according to Real Clear Politics.    

How are Biden’s plan for ending the pandemic going? "I am not going to shut down the economy, period," Biden said. "I'm going to shut down the virus; that's what I'm going to shut down." Yet, there have been more Covid deaths in 2021 than there were when he criticized how the pandemic was being handled in 2020. And this after he inherited Covid vaccines produced in record time.

Gasoline prices, which were under $2.00 in most places last year, are now near or above $3.00 everywhere, and as high as $5.00 a gallon in some places in California. 

Biden shut down the XL Pipeline here at home that would have moved oil more safely, quickly and less expensively than trucks, but he approved a pipeline that benefits Russia. In addition to negatively affecting US oil production and distribution, shutting down the XL Pipeline also put many Americans out of work.

Crime has gone through the roof in several cities/states. Is that Biden’s fault? No, he didn’t start it, but he hasn’t done much if anything to stop the crime wave. 

His Attorney General, Justice Department and the FBI, instead of focusing on the factors that lead to increased crime, are focused elsewhere: replacing state and local law enforcement in watching parents who are complaining about schools and school systems that indoctrinate their children. And, yes, indoctrination in schools does happen.

The federal governments involvement in keeping an eye on parents, and agents presence outside of school board meetings, serves as intimidation to parents, who are now afraid to speak out on a subject they have every right to speak on.

The debacle in rushing out of Afghanistan left 183 people dead, including 13 American military personnel. In the rush to leave, we abandoned thousands of Afghani allies and Americans trapped there, and a fortune in military equipment, which is now in the hands of the Taliban.

The New York Post reported, “The Taliban has seized US weapons left in Afghanistan worth billions — possibly including 600,000 assault rifles, some 2,000 armored vehicles, and 40 aircraft, including Black Hawks, according to reports.” A more sensible plan for leaving without chaos was ignored.

The southern border is essentially non-existent. The border catastrophe has allowed tens of thousands of illegal aliens to cross the southern border easily, without being controlled by authorities, without anyone knowing whether they are vaccinated, or if they are drug dealers, gang members or child smugglers, etc. 

And while people are allowed to enter the country illegally without being checked for vaccinations, American citizens cannot go do many things, like get on an airliner, without showing evidence of up-to-date vaccinations!!!

All of this bad news in his first year in office calls for Biden’s three-B plan to be renamed: “Biden Blunders Bigly,” or “Building Backward Better” are two possibilities.

Biden and the Democrats want to increase the size and cost of government

President Joe Biden’s rushed and ill-conceived exit from Afghanistan was a true disaster, with 13 American military personnel and other innocent lives lost, and many Americans and allies still trying to get out of there, without any American assets left in the country to help make that happen.

This colossal mess has damaged our relations with some allies, caused others to question our strength and direction, and has strengthened our adversaries.

Our southern border, which the Biden administration insists is “closed,” still allows and encourages thousands of illegal aliens to enter the country every day. These people — whose identity and character are unknown, and few if any of whom have been vaccinated against the Covid virus — are mostly left in the country, while some are deported.

In the chaos at the border our Border Patrol (BP) officers are now under fire for doing their job: trying to prevent people from illegally entering the country. 

People who see what they want to see, or who never fact-check their perceptions, falsely accused the mounted BP officers of carrying whips and beating the illegal migrants, when in fact the only migrants who received any sort of physical action were those who refused to obey the officers, or were trying to interfere with them by grabbing the reins of their horses as the officers tried to keep them out of the country.

Why aren’t these critics more concerned with the safety of our BP officers than that of the trespassers?

After launching an attack on Border Patrol officers, now Biden has launched an attack on wealthy Americans and large corporations, saying, "I'm sick and tired of the super-wealthy and giant corporations not paying their fair share in taxes. It's time for it to change."

First, let’s look at who pays what in taxes. The bottom 50% who make less than $43,600 per year pay only 3% of total income taxes; those making $43,600 to $87,000 pay 10%; those making $87,000 to $152,000 pay 16%; those making $152,000 to $218,000 pay 11%; those making $218,000 to $540,000 (the top 2% to 5%) pay 20%; and the hated top 1% making more than $540,000 pay 40% of total income taxes, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

If 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of income taxes and the top 5% pay 60%, while those in the lowest tax bracket pay only 3%, what would the fair share of total taxes paid be?

Just like there is some fraud in elections, there is some fraud among tax payers. But you likely would find that most wealthy people and large corporations follow the tax code pretty strictly.

If corporations are not paying enough in taxes, or maybe nothing in taxes, don’t suggest they are “un-American,” change the tax code.

Biden wants to change the reporting requirements for financial institutions, and for the IRS to be able to view transactions of all bank accounts with $600 or more in them. This is aimed at anyone who doesn’t report their income accurately, the tax dodgers. But it puts most people under the IRS microscope.

Biden’s “American Families Plan calls for banks and other financial institutions to report more than just a taxpayer’s interest earned, capital gains and losses,” Forbes magazine reported. “Banks and other financial institutions would also be required to report ‘aggregate account outflows and inflows.’

“In other words, the IRS will know about all of your bank accounts, whether you earned income on that account or not, how much is in the account in a given year, and how much was transferred in and out of the account,” the Forbes report continued. “It is unclear how this would work, but what is clear is that this new reporting obligation will create a massive compliance effort on the part of financial institutions, and eliminate a massive blind spot that the IRS is currently enduring.” Some good things, but also some bad things.

This new big government plan prompted Sen. Chuck Grassley, R–IA, to say, "Instead of promising a chicken in every pot, Biden's plan promises an auditor at every kitchen table."

And to make sure all bank accounts properly report everyone’s financial activities, the IRS will hire 87,000 new employees, and everyone can expect more scrutiny of the flow of money to and from their accounts.

Assuming that these employees make minimum wage, each one will receive gross pay of $15,080 for a year of 40-hour weeks. Figured for all 87,000 new IRS workers, that comes to an additional $1,311,960,000 per year. Most likely, they will make a bit more than the minimum wage, and probably at least double that figure. And that is only the wage cost of the new employees, not including office space and the needed equipment, etc.

Supposedly, this process will find additional income to be reported and taxed. But what it also does is increase the size and cost of government, and increase the weight of government on the shoulders of those who pay the salaries of Joe Biden, and everyone else who is employed by the federal government.

None of this represents the government that our Founders designed.

Biden’s failure to secure the border is dangerous and reckless

The Biden administration’s disaster at the southern border is dangerous and reckless. Illegal entry into the United States by thousands of illegal aliens occurs daily. Some of these people are taken under control by Border Patrol. Some are released into the state where they entered the country, and some are transferred by bus to cities and towns across the country. 

The largest of those borders belongs to Texas, and the impact on that state has finally reached the breaking point.

Appearing on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” on July 26th, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “if you recall, under the Trump administration, they pretty much had cross-border illegal immigration shut down,” he told host Maria Bartiromo.

“All that Biden had to do was to continue the Trump policies, and we would have no problem on the border whatsoever. But now it’s getting worse because Biden is opening the floodgates for people who are coming from countries where there’s an extremely low vaccination rate, and there’s an extremely high number of people coming across the border who do have COVID,” he said.

Now out of patience with the failure of the federal government to provide border security, Abbott introduced a plan to arrest and jail illegal aliens, put into effect by an executive order. “We had to open up a former prison that has now 1,000 jail beds that we’re starting to fill up,” Abbott said. “We are arresting people every single day, and we’re arresting for trespass. When you come across the [Rio Grande], you’re typically coming into private property or county property or state property. You are trespassing,” he said.

“And because I declared it an emergency, the punishment for the crime has been doubled. So, it’s either a Class B or Class A misdemeanor that can put them in jail for a half-a-year or a year,” he said. “And our goal is to continue to arrest people coming across the border, but, at the same time, surge more National Guard, more Texas Department of Public Safety officers to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can as a state to secure the border,” he continued.

Bartiromo then brought up the drugs being smuggled across the border by illegal aliens. Referring to the Biden administration’s failure to control the border from illegal entry and drugs, Abbott responded: “… fentanyl is one of the most deadly drugs that exists. It’s almost 100 times more potent than morphine, almost 50 times more potent than heroin. And it’s laced onto other drugs like ecstasy, Valium, Xanax, and other things that people are taking. And people are losing their lives,” Abbott said.

“But here’s the important mathematical fact, Maria,” Abbott continued. “And that is, when you put all law enforcement agencies together, they have seized more [than enough] fentanyl to kill, to kill every man, woman and child in the United States of America. All it takes is two milligrams for it to be a lethal dose,” he said.

“[T]he Biden administration is doing nothing to stop this,” Abbott explained. But Texas “once again is stepping up. And we are going after the cartels.” 

And, of course, being very sensitive to problems like this, the Biden administration immediately reacted. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland sent a letter threatening legal action against Texas for trying to protect its citizens from the malfeasance of the federal government.

“I urge you to immediately rescind the Order. If you do not do so, I’m providing notice that the United States intends to pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government,” Garland’s letter said. “To the extent the Order interferes with immigration enforcement, the Order is unconstitutional.”

So, the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement policy is to allow illegal entry of people and drugs into border states, and then take legal action against the states if they try to enforce their state laws.

The southern border of the United States is also the border of four states. If the federal government refuses to protect its border from illegal alien entry, the four states have not just the right, but the absolute duty to protect their citizens from illegal aliens entering their states. And if doing so gets in the way of the federal government’s “immigration enforcement policy,” that’s just too bad.

The Daily Wire reported last week that total apprehensions at the border for 2021 were expected to top one million by July 31, and that at this rate the border patrol will likely intercept two million illegal immigrants in 2021.

The report continued: “Around 50,000 migrants who were captured crossing the United States-Mexico border illegally have been released into the United States without court dates, only instructions to eventually report back to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, according to a report from Axios. Only 13 percent of those, the outlet notes, have actually followed up with an ICE agent.”

The Biden administration’s failure to secure the border and protect the lives and property of Americans who live on or near the border, and protect against virus spread is a national disgrace.